Holiday World & Splashin'
Safari
Santa Claus, Indiana
Thunderbird Media Preview Day
April 23 2015
Page Twenty-Two
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Here is Holiday World's PR Maven Paula Werne having fun and working
the social media during the event. She was shooting video of the ride
and I just happened to be sitting down enjoying some Thunderbird Ice Cream
(it has quite a kick) and the light looked great so I decided to snap a
quick photo of her.
Part of the Mantra of Negative-G and those who join us on our Forums is
that "we ride until parks kick us out". We get everything we can out
of the magical hours we get at any amusement park. While Holiday World
certainly did not kick us out eventually with just a few of us remaining
it was time for one last ride before the day was to come to an end.
Here is Bond and Billy after twelve hours of riding Thunderbird and Voyage.
After the last ride and and it was just us and park personnel remaining
like Paula they wondered what I thought about Thunderbird.
My reply was that I had already asked Carrie if we could move back to Santa
Claus. Thunderbird is as amazing as The Raven, The Legend and The
Voyage and like those three I couldn't stop riding it.
If you are in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arlansas
or just love coasters you need to book a visit to Holiday World. Bond
and I already have as we are heading back for two coaster filled days in
May for the annual HoliWood Nights enthusiast event. I am particularly
looking forward to taking on Thunderbird in the dark.
One parting tip for you. I have favorite seats on all of Holiday Worlds
coasters. On the Raven it is the rear right side. The Legend it is
the same. For The Voyage my seat is the second row. All of those
choices are after riding in each seat over and over and are my personal
opinion to which seat gives the best ride.
For Thunderbird it is not necessarily which seat but which side to ride
on as with a train as wide as a wing coasters you have different experiences
with different sides. I found myself heading to the left side as Thunderbird
has more close calls with the ground and during the zero g roll the interaction
with the trees on that side just makes the ride. Go for the front
for the view but I tended to go to the back for the forces.
Holiday World has an amazing ride on their hands here and you need to go
ride it.
Thanks to the Koch family, Paula Werne and her PR staff, all of the Voyage
and Thunderbird ride operators and the rest of the staff of Holiday World
for having us. We miss you all and can't wait to come back.